"So..." I started noticing. a year or more ago, pundits starting off this little gem when asked a question. For some reason it annoyed the hell out of me. Mostly, I think, because it was politicians doing the answering. And the next thing out of their mouths was a bunch of mealy-mouthed lies.
Should someone ask me, "What color house do you live in?", I would not answer "so I live in a blue house". I would say "a blue house".
But after all this time I'm getting used to hearing it and it doesn't bother me as much. Does it bother anyone else, the talking heads manhandling the language into this contortion? Anyone have a likely explanation why it was done? I suspect someone started it, somewhere and it caught on.
Maybe part of my sensitivity is that I'm quite deaf, and people saying things in some ass-backward fashion, trying to be cute, pisses me off because it interferes with my endless fight to understand them, I dunno. That part of it – WHY it irritates me so much, is part of why it still pisses me off.
I'm 89. Maybe it's natural grouchiness of old age?
If I knew it pisses everyone off, perhaps I could start using for every question I'm asked. Now that might be worth it. If anyone called me out on it I could reply "I'm conducting IQ tests. You passed, you're not an idiot."